1500-1600Latin past participle of extenuare, from tenuis ‘thin’
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
A terrifying warning was occasionally administered in cases where extenuating circumstances existed.
Goodstein suggested that this eased by talking about extenuating circumstances.
Hunger and poverty, the main reasons for their poaching, are not treated by the courts as extenuating circumstances.
Collocations
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES►extenuating/mitigating circumstances
(=conditions that make it reasonable for someone to break the rules or law)· Hunger and poverty are not treated by the courts as extenuating circumstances.
Phrases
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY►extenuating circumstances/factors etc
A terrifying warning was occasionally administered in cases where extenuating circumstances existed.
Clearly, then, extenuating factors such as the attraction of video stores and the ability to browse are sometimes overlooked.
Goodstein suggested that this eased by talking about extenuating circumstances.
Hunger and poverty, the main reasons for their poaching, are not treated by the courts as extenuating circumstances.
Paedophilia is the only major crime in which there is no possibility of extenuating circumstances.
extenuating circumstances/factors etc formal facts or reasons which make you feel that it was reasonable for someone to break the usual rules, or make you have sympathy for someone who did something wrong or illegal—extenuation /ɪkˌstenjuˈeɪʃən/ noun [uncountable]